By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

JACKSON — You won’t encounter many seven-footers in boys high school basketball, and it was Biloxi’s misfortune to go up against one of the state’s better big men.

Junior Sam Funchess caused the Indians all sorts of problems early in the game, and the Germantown guards did the rest, cruising to a 55-30 victory Monday afternoon in the Class 7A Final Four at Mississippi Coliseum.

The Mavericks (28-5) will battle Brandon at 8 p.m. Thursday in the state championship game. Biloxi finished its season 21-8.

“He’s a load,” said Biloxi coach Seber Windham. “He’ll play Division I basketball somewhere. You don’t see that much length in high school, and he takes up so much space. It really bothered our rhythm. It bothered my guards and it bothered my bigs.

But I’m proud of my guys for getting to the Final Four. We have a lot of young guys who grew a lot this season, so hopefully we can come back stronger.”

The Indians stayed in the game early, thanks to the play of 6-foot-6 Jakylen Edwards, who scored all 6 of his points in the first quarter, and even took a brief 7-6 lead on a foul shot by junior Jaden Eckford.

“We don’t really go up against many 7-footers, so it’s something you can’t really prepare for,” said Edwards. “We held our own, and we fought back, but they were the better team today. The ball didn’t bounce our way, and we couldn’t make shots.”

And just about the time Funchess got his second personal foul, senior guard Michael Williams announced his presence with an authoritative slam dunk on an alley-oop pass.

With Funchess drawing the defense, the Maverick guards began to find space through the lane and, especially down the baseline.

“Their guards were terrific,” said Windham. “The Williams kid is going to play D-1 somewhere as well. Their guards got in the lane and broke down our defense.

“When you have a 7-footer with guards that good, you’ve got a team that’s going to be tough to beat.”

Germantown led 14-11 after the first quarter, but outscored the Indians 16-4 in the second quarter to all but put the game away.

Junior Devin Moore drove the lane for a layup, then Williams buried a 3-point shot from the left side, then nailed a 14-footer from the top of the key in a 9-0 run that gave the Mavs command of the game.

And it was Williams who had the death punch, a 3-ball from the top of the key at the buzzer to give the Mavericks a 30-15 halftime lead.

While Germantown shot 53.8 percent (14-of 26) from the field in the first half, and 51.1 percent for the game (24- of 47), Biloxi was just 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from the field. For the game, the Indians were 11 of 50 (22.0 percent).

Although the Indians fought hard, they were never able to put any kind of dent in the deficit in the second half. Germantown led 47-27 after the third quarter.

Williams led all scorers with 20 points, and Funchess finished with 12 points. Junior Alan Ayala led Biloxi with 10 points.

Windham’s disappointment in the loss was cushioned by his team’s run to the Big House after taking significant graduation losses after last season. The Indians will return the heart of their roster, so a return trip could be in the cards.

“We’ve got a young team,” said Edwards. “Most of our guys last year were seniors who graduated. So we are a young and we’re going to try to make it back here next year.”

Brandon defeated Madison Central 57-44 to punch its ticket to Thursday’s final.